LAWYER QUOTES III

quotations about lawyers

lawyers quote

A lawyers performance in the courtroom is responsible for about 25 percent of the outcome; the remaining 75 percent depends on the facts.

MELVIN BELLI

attributed, Jar of Quotes

Tags: Melvin Belli


Why don't you ever hear of a lawyer getting attacked by a shark at the beach? Professional courtesy.

THOMAS F. SHUBNELL

Greatest Jokes of the Century


As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough. Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

notes for a law lecture, July 1, 1850?

Tags: Abraham Lincoln


Americans see lawyers as obstructionists, as defenders of murderers.... In reality, lawyers are the glue that holds society together. Without lawyers ... without law, you have anarchy.

BILL CUNNINGHAM

Cincinnati Magazine, Sep. 1992


There were lawyers who promoted quarrels to get fees. But they were the pariahs of the profession. The best lawyers were peacemakers, and though, of necessity, professional partisans when engaged in litigation, they were generally honorable partisans.

LYMAN ABBOTT

Reminiscences

Tags: Lyman Abbott


Lawyers are in the business of advocacy, not judgment.

ALLAN C. HUTCHINSON

Is Killing People Right?


Successful trial lawyers are like heat-seeking missiles carrying payloads of information prejudicial to their opponent's case, constantly looking for the chance to unload their cargo, right up until the final moments of trial.

DAVID BERG

The Trial Lawyer


It is an ill cause that the lawyer thinks shame o'.

JOHN RAY

A Complete Collection of English Proverbs


The Post Office just recalled their newest stamps: They had a picture of lawyers on them ... and people couldn't figure out which side to spit on.

MARVIN LEBMAN

A Collection of Jokes and Funny Stories


Lawyers are like painters--once they get into a house, you never know when you will get rid of them again.

PETER ANDERSON GRAHAM

The Red Scaur


A lawyer is an odd sort of fish, first rotten, then green, then ripe.

ROBERT CHRISTY

Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases


I cannot believe that a republic could subsist if the influence of the lawyers in public business did not increase in proportion to the power of the people.

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

Democracy in America


A countryman between 2 Lawyers, is like a fish between two cats.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1737

Tags: Benjamin Franklin


If you cannot avoid a quarrel with a blackguard, let your lawyer manage it, rather than yourself. No man sweeps his own chimney, but employs a chimney-sweeper, who has no objection to dirty work, because it is his trade.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon

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No group has a greater responsibility today in helping maintain our free institutions of society than the lawyer. In fact, being a man of the law, he is uniquely equipped through training, outlook and experience to be a leader of his fellow citizens. American history confirms his tremendous contribution--helping draw up the basic documentation of our freedom, serving as a leader in local, state and national government, participating in the affairs of community life. At this hour, America especially needs the leadership of the lawyer. The moral fabric of our Nation is badly torn. Disrespect for law and order is widespread. The very principles of free government are being scorned and perverted. Flouting the law has almost become a hobby for some individuals.

J. EDGAR HOOVER

Texas Bar Journal, Feb. 22, 1964


He who will always be his own lawyer will often have a fool for a client.

J. HUNTER

attributed, Day's Collacon


Anyone who believes a better day dawns when lawyers are eliminated has the burden of explaining who will take their place. Who will protect the poor, the injured, the victims of negligence, the victims of racial discrimination, and the victims of racial violence?... Lawyers are the simple yet essential means by which people seek to vindicate their rights and we must not foreclose that means.

JOHN CURTIN

remarks at American Bar Association annual meeting, Aug. 13, 1991


As to the essentials of a good lawyer, I have some very definite convictions. He should have a keen sense of right and wrong and a firm belief in basic moral values. I would hate to trust the welfare or protection of the life or property of any of my clients to a lawyer who had no respect for moral values, or one who had a callous indifference as to what was basically right and wrong.

JOSEPH T. KARCHER

New Jersey Lawyer, Nov. 1986


Lawyers are like rabbits. They have a nasty habit of multiplying.

LEO REILLY

How to Outnegotiate Anyone


There must be some honest lawyers at the New York bar, and some impartial judges on the New York bench, but I should not like to be set to find them.

LYMAN ABBOTT

Laicus: Or, The Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish

Tags: Lyman Abbott